The ‘boat people’ crisis that erupted in the Bay of Bengal and Andaman Sea in May 2015 tragically exposed the vulnerabilities of migrants and refugees in the region. Following the initial reaction of states, which consisted of preventing boats from landing, a set of measures was adopted to put an end to the crisis and to address the issue of irregular movements by sea in the region over the long term. This article analyses the main elements of the response and discusses its implementation in the region in light of the already important practice and experience of Southeast Asian countries in dealing with large-scale arrival of ‘boat people’. It is argued that despite the calls for the resettlement of the Rohingyas and for the regularisation of their status as migrant workers, the situation will mainly be dealt with in an informal manner, with most of them joining the already significant community of Rohingyas living in a precarious situation in Malaysia. While the movement of Bangladeshis could well be addressed through other measures, in the case of Rohingyas, addressing the factors that prompt their departure in the first place – the so-called ‘root causes’ – is the only viable way to stop the movements.
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Sébastien Moretti (2017) studied this question.